Our Journey to a Debt Free 2016

DebtFree2012

Fingers crossed for you x

PinkPoppies

Thanks DF!

I have been on fire today!!! Slightly spendy day as I bought some bits for our veg garden but hopefully it will repay us in tasty veg at some point. I have blitzed the housework, cooked a roast dinner, planted hanging baskets (with some bargain plants purchased at Aldi at the weekend), baked a cake, and got some paperworky jobs done too!

Oh, and friends of ours gave us a box of eggs from their hens- yum! Not sure they will help with my garden chicken desires :cool:

Cheque didn't clear today so fingers crossed for tomorrow. There is no cash at all in our current account so looking forward to payday!

Also, offset account application papers sent off again today so our first direct debit towards that should hopefully come out at the beginning of June.

PinkPoppies

£300 cheque cleared but I have had to send it over to the rogue CC which has taken a bit of a hammering this month I'm afraid The UK holiday we booked, a variety of birthdays, and £400 worth of bills associated with my little hobby business have really added up

The good news is DH's bonus will clear the lot, the bad news is there won't be any left over to throw at the CC.

DH and I were talking about it last night and feeling a bit glum and disappointed with ourselves- it would have been fabulous to have been able to use the bonus to pay down the debt rather than basically spending it all.

BUT, that said... I think we have both been a bit rubbish because we knew it was coming, and actually it has been quite refreshing being able to take our eye off the ball a bit. We can go into May feeling recharged and ON IT!

I have updated my signature for the start of May and as I pointed out to a fed up DH last night- since we started in August we have paid off £17,379. We have knuckled down, gone without, and paid off a massive amount in 10 months... so I don't think we need to be too hard on ourselves for a 'bad' month.

£682 left to pay until we have a figure starting with a 1. Onwards and downwards...

DebtFree2012

No way should you be hard on yourself!!! You have done amazingly!!! It's admirable and you should be proud. It's so hard to always go without so you have to "treat" yourself every now and again. Life still needs to be lived. Well done you and Good Luck for May ! x

LastFewSteps

Don't be hard on yourself, I know how you feel as I'm just the same but I've recently realised that we are still entitled to a life while we are on this journey, you've done really well so you deserve to take your eye off the ball

PinkPoppies

Thank you both!

Feeling better now that the rogue CC is cleared, and I have carefully budgeted for the month ahead. Feeling very much back on track!

I cooked a huge chilli last night with plenty left to go in the freezer so that will do for another evening meal next week.

All of a sudden lots of the seeds I planted in our veg patch have emerged! I was beginning to think they weren't going to grow as it has been a few weeks and the children haven't half stomped all over the bed so pleased to see them! Can't wait to eat some home grown food!

PinkPoppies

Just tried to use the 'new look' forum... it looks really smart but I can't see where I can skip straight to the threads I subscribe to? Anyone figured it out? Switched back to the old version now!

Just been sat checking our accounts. Most of our DDs have gone out for the month now. Have left just enough spending money in the current account to last us until the rent gets paid, and sent the remaining £134 off to the CC.

£548 to pay off before we get sub £20k, and £1518 to go until we hit the 50% mark (which we should do when our next loan payment goes out at the very end of the month).

Day of housework today. We have family coming to visit tomorrow so need to make the place look presentable!

Hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!

DebtFree2012

No but that answers my questions on !!!!!! is happening and why does it look wrong I didn't know things were changing.

When will the £548 go then? How exciting.

I keep forgetting it's Bank Holiday!!! Yey!

debtfreeoneday

Under your avatar! Click on it and then click on change settings and in there are your subscribed threads!

I'm trying to find change signature!

PinkPoppies

Thank you! Couldn't see a settings option under my avatar but found it somehow and spotted the change signature option in the settings bit too with the subscribed threads!

I'm hoping we will be able to clear the £548 before the end of the month DF.

DH and I seem super focused this month which is good. Summer always seems to be more spendy than winter months what with trips out during the long school holidays, beer garden visits with friends and so on, so we REALLY want to seriously knuckle down over the next two months and clear the last CC as soon as we possibly can.

Aiming to spend about £50 a week on groceries, and not spend any more money than that outside of bills. Very ambitious but I know we can do it! We have plenty of food in the cupboards, I just need to get a bit creative and try to incorporate as much as I can into my meal planning. As ever the children enjoy pasta based dishes so some easy cheap meals to be had there. Baked potatoes with various toppings go down well too. Might spend some time on the OS board for inspiration.

I could also do with prowling the house for anything that could be ebayed, even little things and outgrown clothes. Need to make the effort!

The weather looks quite nice out there so I think we will have a quiet day at home in the garden tidying the veg patch up and perhaps doing a bit more seed planting.